Executive orders by day of term
How fast is the current president signing executive orders compared with his predecessors? Pick any day of a four-year term, from inauguration day to day 1,461, to see how many orders each president had signed by that point, compare two terms side by side, or find the day each term reached a given number of orders. Donald Trump’s second term is on day 652 (2 November 2026) with 292 executive orders in the Federal Register.
Updated 2 November 2026. Source: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives: executive orders. Full list, chart and CSV: US executive orders tracker. Key figures: Executive order statistics. Look up a date, number or year: US executive orders lookup.
By the end of day 652 of a term, counting inauguration day as day 1, the presidents had signed this many executive orders: Donald Trump’s second term 292; Joe Biden’s term 104; Donald Trump’s first term 86; George W. Bush’s first term 78; Bill Clinton’s second term 72; Barack Obama’s first term 67; Barack Obama’s second term 46; George W. Bush’s second term 43. Day 652 of Donald Trump’s second term was 2 November 2026; with 292 orders by then, it has the most of the 8 terms. The average across these 8 terms is 98.5. Orders are usually published in the Federal Register several days after they are signed, so the latest days of the current term may be incomplete.
Key figures
- By day 652 (2 November 2026), Donald Trump’s second term had 292 executive orders in the Federal Register, more than any other term at the same point; the next highest at day 652 was Joe Biden’s term, with 104. #
- On inauguration day, Donald Trump’s second term had the most executive orders signed of any term in the list: 26; the average across the 8 terms is 4.5. #
- In the first 100 days, Donald Trump’s second term had 143 executive orders, the most of the 8 terms; Barack Obama’s second term had the fewest, 6. #
- In the first year (365 days), Donald Trump’s second term had 229 executive orders, the most of the 8 terms, against 21 for Barack Obama’s second term, the fewest. #
- Donald Trump’s second term reached 100 executive orders fastest, on day 65 (25 March 2025); Barack Obama’s second term took the longest, 1,301 days. #
- Over a full four-year term, the 7 complete terms averaged 159.0 executive orders, from 220 (Donald Trump’s first term) to 118 (George W. Bush’s second term). #
Executive orders signed by day of term
Orders signed from inauguration day (day 1) to the end of each day shown, by term. Day 365 is the first year and day 1,461 the full four-year term; “–” means the term has not reached that day yet. Each row has its own link, for example #term-obama-1.
| Term | Years | Day 1 | Day 7 | Day 30 | Day 100 | Day 200 | Day 365 | Day 652 (latest) | Day 730 | Day 1,000 | Full term | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump’s second term | 2025– | 26 | 36 | 70 | 143 | 186 | 229 | 292 | – | – | – | 292 (so far) |
| Joe Biden’s term | 2021–2025 | 9 | 22 | 32 | 42 | 53 | 77 | 104 | 106 | 125 | 162 | 162 |
| Donald Trump’s first term | 2017–2021 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 33 | 42 | 58 | 86 | 92 | 130 | 220 | 220 |
| Barack Obama’s second term | 2013–2017 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 21 | 46 | 53 | 74 | 129 | 129 |
| Barack Obama’s first term | 2009–2013 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 22 | 41 | 67 | 75 | 99 | 147 | 147 |
| George W. Bush’s second term | 2005–2009 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 25 | 43 | 52 | 77 | 118 | 118 |
| George W. Bush’s first term | 2001–2005 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 24 | 56 | 78 | 85 | 120 | 173 | 173 |
| Bill Clinton’s second term | 1997–2001 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 24 | 38 | 72 | 78 | 107 | 164 | 164 |
Days each term took to reach a number of orders
The day of the term on which each president signed his 1st, 10th, 25th, 50th, 100th and later executive order of that term (1 = inauguration day). “–” means the term ended without reaching that number. Each row has its own link, for example #reach-100.
| Order | Bill Clinton 2 | George W. Bush 1 | George W. Bush 2 | Barack Obama 1 | Barack Obama 2 | Donald Trump 1 | Joe Biden | Donald Trump 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st order | 11 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10th order | 87 | 76 | 149 | 17 | 135 | 21 | 2 | 1 |
| 25th order | 202 | 210 | 359 | 255 | 411 | 92 | 9 | 1 |
| 50th order | 480 | 333 | 701 | 455 | 699 | 274 | 141 | 15 |
| 100th order | 928 | 824 | 1,288 | 1,015 | 1,301 | 791 | 619 | 65 |
| 150th order | 1,434 | 1,280 | – | – | – | 1,173 | 1,445 | 110 |
| 200th order | – | – | – | – | – | 1,421 | – | 229 |
| 250th order | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 425 |
| 300th order | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | not yet |
Example: Donald Trump’s second term and Donald Trump’s first term at day 652
By day 652, Donald Trump’s second term had 292 executive orders (2 November 2026) and Donald Trump’s first term had 86 (2 November 2018). Donald Trump’s second term had 206 more, 3.4 times as many. Donald Trump’s first term never reached 292 orders; it ended with 220. Pace by day 652: 44.8 orders per 100 days for Donald Trump’s second term and 13.2 for Donald Trump’s first term. Orders are usually published in the Federal Register several days after they are signed, so the latest days of the current term may be incomplete.
Download the data
Executive orders by day of term (CSV): the running total of orders signed by every day of each term from day 1 to day 1,461, one column per term, blank for days the current term has not reached. Updated daily with the tracker.
Cite or link to this tool
Students, teachers, writers, researchers and journalists are welcome to use and link to this comparison. Each key figure and table row has its own link, such as #first-100-days, #term-biden or #reach-100. You may reuse the figures and the CSV under a CC BY 4.0 licence with credit to StatecraftWire and the Office of the Federal Register, linking to this page.
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How the comparison works
The tool uses the list of presidential executive orders published in the Federal Register by the Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives, through its public API, the same list used by the executive orders tracker: 8 terms from 1997 onwards, each covered from its first day. Bill Clinton’s first term is left out because the Federal Register’s online list starts with No. 12890, signed on 30 December 1993, almost a year into that term. Corrections, reprinted orders and unnumbered documents are left out, so each numbered order is counted once.
Orders are counted by signing date and attributed to the president who signed them. A term runs from inauguration day, 20 January, which is day 1, to the day before the next inauguration; a four-year term has 1,461 days. Orders signed by the outgoing president on inauguration day count in his own term. “By day N” includes every order signed from day 1 to the end of day N. The pace per 100 days is the number of orders divided by the number of days, times 100. Because orders usually appear in the Federal Register several days after they are signed, the latest days of the current term may be incomplete. Counts are a measure of activity, not of importance: one order can matter far more than many routine ones. Totals and comparisons are calculated by StatecraftWire, and this page is updated daily with the tracker’s latest data. Federal Register documents are US government works in the public domain; please credit the Office of the Federal Register when reusing them.